Response of Milking Cows Fed a High Concentrate, Low Roughage Diet Plus Sodium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Oxide, or Magnesium Hydroxide

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Abstract
To determine the ability of mineral supplements to elevate depressed milk fat percent, 42 Holstein cows in early to midlactation were placed in 7 blocks and assigned each to 1 of 6 treatments: control (25% corn silage and alfalfa haylage, 75% concentrate, mostly corn, dry matter); control plus magnesium oxide ground to pass a 0.425-mm seive; control plus prilled magnesium oxide sieved to between 1.70 and 0.425 mm; control plus sodium bicarbonate; control plus reactive powdered magnesium oxide to pass a 45 .mu.m sieve; and control plus powdered magnesium hydroxide. Sodium bicarbonate was 1% of diet as fed, magnesium oxide 0.5%, magnesium hydroxide 0.7% later reduced to 0.5%. Cows were fed control ration for 3 wk to induce milk fat depression, then were changed to treatment rations for 5 wk. Five cows (unblocked) were continued on each dietary treatment for a digestibility study after the feeding trial. All mineral supplements produced greater milk fat percent and yield of milk fat per day than control and all Mg treatments produced greater milk fat percent than sodium bicarbonate. Magnesium oxide passing a 0.425-mm sieve produced the greatest increase of milk fat percent. Milk production was most for sodium bicarbonate treatment. Supplementation with Mg increased ruminal Mg concentration by factors of 1.26 to 3.75. Blood serum, urine and fecal Mg concentrations and fecal pH were more for cows fed Mg than those fed sodium bicarbonate treatments. Kidney filtration ratios of element to creatinine increased for Mg when diets were supplemented with Mg and increased for P and Na when diets were supplemented with sodium bicarbonate.

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